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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


»  LECTURES  ON    BUSINESS   EFFICIENCY 

Edited   by  THOMAS    H.     RUSSELL,    A.M.,     LL.  D. 


BUSINESS 


By 

ANDREW  CARNEGIE 


'^RSITY  of  CALIFORNIA 
AT 
LOS  ANGELES 
UBRARY 


lOf^-Gl 


COPYRIGHT  1916  BY 
MAl>r  TPu  BLI SH  l> 


'^'^ITMAl>rTuBLISHINC  Co. 


INTRODUCTION 


No  apology  is  needed  for  presenting  this  famous  lecture 
very  early  in  this  series  for  the  perusal  of  business  students. 
Rather  may  we  congratulate  ourselves  and  our  readers  on 
the  privilege  we  have  of  using  and  studying  Mr.  Carne- 
gie's words  of  practical  wisdom.  For  there  is  a  world  of 
wisdom  in  what  he  has  to  say  to  young  men  about  their 
careers  and  their  conduct  in  business  life. 

Mr.  Carnegie  occupies  a  unique  position  in  American 
business  history.  He  is  the  one  American  business  man 
par  excellence  who  has  shown  us  how  to  retire  from  busi- 
ness gracefully  and  enjoy  life  in  retirement.  In  this  he  has 
set  an  example  worthy  of  emulation.  For  there  is  nothing 
more  absurd  in  the  business  creed  than  the  belief  quite  com- 
monly accepted  that  a  business  man  should  "die  in  the  har- 
ness" and  that  no  man  can  be  happy  in  retirement  after  an 
active  business  life.  The  trouble  is  that  few  men  know 
how  to  retire  gracefully  and  happily,  because  they  have  not 
prepared  themselves  by  cultivation  of  the  mind  for  con- 
genial occupation  of  their  leisure  by  avocations — call  them 
hobbies,  if  you  will — that  serve  as  a  substitute  for  the  cares 
and  responsibilities  of  business. 

In  his  retirement  Mr.  Carnegie  is  well  employed,  and  the 
world  has  been  enriched  by  his  career  both  before  and  since 
he  retired  from  active  participation  in  the  great  steel  in- 
dustry. He  divides  his  time  nowadays  between  his  native 
land  and  the  country  of  his  adoption,  in  which  he  gained 
his  wealth  and  lasting  fame.  He  came  to  this  country  a 
poor  boy,  having  borrowed  the  money  for  his  passage  from 
Scotland.  He  toiled  hard  for  his  start  in  business  and  made 
his  money  largely  by  his  wonderful  judgment  of  men  and 
skill  in  the  selection  of  his  lieutenants.     Many  of  these — 


young  men  too — ^became  millionaires  under  his  leadership, 
and  some  of  them  remain  today  at  the  top  of  the  ladder  of 
American  industry  But  Mr.  Carnegie  worked  and  worked 
hard.  His  life  has  long  been  an  open  book  to  the  American 
public,  and  few  there  are  who  do  not  yi^ish  the  "Laird  of 
Skibo"  well  in  the  happy  enjoyment  of  his  remaining  years 
on  the  Scottish  estate  near  the  humble  home  of  his  youth, 
where  his  success  is  an  inspiration  to  every  young  man  and 
the  most  notable  example  of  the  opportunities  afforded 
by  business  life  in  America 

Every  word  of  Mr.  Carnegie's  lecture  is  worth  study.  He 
speaks  out  of  a  ripe  experience  to  young  men,  with  a  heart 
brimful  of  kindness  and  human  sympathy.  He  shows  the 
steps  that  must  be  mounted  in  a  regular  advance  to  busi- 
ness success,  and  insists  that  there  is  no  lack  of  opportuni- 
ties today  for  those  who  learn  how  to  find  them  or  to  make 
them.  He  advocates  the  business  career  for  young  men 
rather  than  artistic  or  professional  careers,  for  reasons  that 
to  an  open  mind  are  good  and  convincing,  and  commends 
it  as  the  one  vocation  in  which  "there  is  abundant  room 
for  the  exercise  of  man's  highest  power  and  of  every  good 
quality  in  human  nature." 

I  have  never  had  any  patience  with  those  who  spend  their 
time  envying  the  successful  rich,  especially  when  the  envied 
rich  man  was  once  a  poor  young  man  and  made  his  way 
in  the  world  by  his  own  efforts  in  legitimate  business.  To 
the  envious  I  would  say :  The  road  is  open  to  you,  as  it  was 
to  them ;  go  thou  and  do  likewise !  And  I  commend  the  ex- 
ample of  Andrew  Carnegie  in  his  business  life  to  all  young 
men  entering  business,  as  I  commend  his  example  in  retire- 
ment to  business  men  who  lack  the  ability  to  retire.  Both 
classes  will  find  food  for  thought  in  this  lecture. 

T.  H.  R. 


Business 

By  ANDREW  CARNEGIE 


Business  is  a  large  word,  and  in  its  primary  meaning  cov- 
ers the  whole  range  of  man's  efforts.  It  is  the  business  of 
the  preacher  to  preach,  of  the  physician  to  practice,  of  the 
poet  to  write,  the  business  of  the  university  professor  to 
teach,  and  the  business  of  the  college  student,  one  might 
sometimes  think,  from  the  amount  of  attention  bestowed 
upon  it,  to  play  football.  I  am  not  to  speak  of  "business" 
in  this  wide  sense,  but  specifically  as  defined  in  the  Century 
Dictionary : 

"Mercantile  and  manufacturing  pursuits  collect- 
ively; employment  requiring  knowledge  of  accounts 
and  financial  methods;  the  occupation  of  conducting 
trade;  or  monetary  transactions  of  any  kind." 

The  illustration  which  follows  is  significant,  and  clearly 
defines  this  view  of  business.    It  reads : 

"It  seldom  happens  that  men  of  a  studious  turn 
acquire  any  degree  of  reputation  for  their  knowl- 
edge of  business." 

But  we  must  go  one  step  further,  more  strictly  to  define 
business,  as  I  am  to  consider  it.  Is  a  railway  president 
receiving  a  salary,  or  the  president  of  a  bank,  or  a  salaried 
officer  of  any  kind,  in  business?  Strictly  speaking,  he  is 
not;  for  a  man,  to  be  in  business,  must  be  at  least  part 
owner  of  the  enterprise  which  he  manages  and  to  which  he 
gives  his  attention,  and  chiefly  dependent  for  his  revenues 
not  upon  salary  but  upon  its  profits.  This  view  rules  out 
the  entire  salaried  class.  None  of  these  men  are  now  men 
in  business,  but  many  of  them  have  been,  and  most  success- 
ful therein.  The  business  man  pure  and  simple  plunges  into 
and  tosses  upon  the  waves  of  human  affairs  without  a  life- 
preservei  in  the  shape  of  salary ;  he  risks  all. 


C  BUSINESS 

Choice  of  a  Career. 

There  is  no  fortune  to  come  from  salary,  however  high, 
and  the  business  man  pursues  fortune.  If  he  be  wise  he 
puts  all  his  eggs  in  one  basket,  and  then  watches  that  bas- 
ket. If  he  is  a  merchant  in  coffee,  he  attends  to  coffee;  if 
a  merchant  in  sugar,  he  attents  to  sugar  and  lets  coffee 
alone,  and  only  mixes  them  when  he  drinks  his  coffee  with 
sugar  in  it.  If  he  mine  coal  and  sell  it,  he  attends  to 
black  diamonds;  if  he  own  and  sail  ships,  he  attends  to 
shipping,  and  he  ceases  to  insure  his  own  ships  just  as  soon 
as  he  has  surplus  capital  and  can  stand  the  loss  of  one  with- 
out imperiling  solvency;  if  he  manufacture  steel,  he  sticks 
to  steel,  and  severely  lets  copper  alone;  if  he  mine  iron- 
stone, he  sticks  to  that,  and  avoids  every  other  kind  of  min- 
ing, silver  and  gold-mining  especially.  This  is  because  a 
man  can  thoroughly  master  only  one  business  and  only  an 
able  man  can  do  this.  I  have  never  yet  met  the  man  who 
fully  understood  two  different  kinds  of  business;  you  can- 
not find  him  any  sooner  than  you  can  find  a  man  who  thinks 
in  two  languages  equally  and  does  not  invariably  think  only 
in  one. 

Subdivision,  specialization,  is  the  order  of  the  day. 
Every  Man  to  His  Trade  or  His  Specialty. 

I  have  before  me  many  representatives  of  all  classes  of 
students.  If  I  could  look  into  your  hearts,  I  should  find 
many  different  ambitions;  some  aiming  at  distinction  in 
each  of  the  professions ;  some  would  be  lawyers,  some  min- 
isters, some  doctors,  some  architects,  some  electricians, 
some  engineers,  some  teachers,  and  each  sets  before  him, 
as  models,  honored  names  that  have  reached  the  highest 
rank  in  these  professions.  The  embryo  lawyers  before  me 
would  rival  Marshall  and  Story  of  the  past,  or  Carter  and 
Choate  of  the  present;  the  preacher  would  be  a  Brooks  or 
a  Van  Dyke;  the  physician  a  Janeway  or  a  Garmany;  the 
editor  would  be  a  Dana;  the  architect  a  Richardson,  and, 
having  reached  the  top  of  his  darling  profession,  his  ambi- 
tion then  would  be  satisfied.    At  least,  so  he  thinks  at  pres- 


BUSINESS  7 

ent.  With  these  classes  I  have  nothing  whatever  to  do  di- 
rectly today,  because  all  these  are  professional  enthusiasts. 
Nevertheless,  the  qualities  essential  for  success  in  the  pro- 
fessions being  in  the  main  the  same  which  insure  success 
in  business,  much  that  I  have  to  say  applies  equally  to  you 
aU. 

There  remain  among  you  those  who  would  sail  the  uncer- 
tain sea  of  business,  and  devote  themselves  to  making 
money,  a  great  fortune,  so  that  you  shall  be  millionaires. 
I  am  sure  that  while  this  may  be  chiefly  in  your  thoughts, 
it  is  not  all  you  seek  in  a  business  career ;  you  feel  that  in  it 
there  is  scope  for  exercise  of  great  abilities,  of  enterprise, 
energy,  judgment,  and  all  the  best  traits  of  human  nature, 
and  also  that  men  in  business  perform  useful  service  to 
society. 

I  am  to  try  to  shed  a  little  light  upon  the  path  to  suc- 
cess, to  point  out  some  of  the  rocks  and  shoals  in  that 
treacherous  sea,  and  give  a  few  hints  as  to  the  mode  of  sail- 
ing your  ship,  or  rowing  your  shell,  whether,  for  instance, 
the  quick  or  the  slow  stroke  is  surer  to  win  in  the  long  race. 

The  Start  in  Life. 

Let  us  begin,  then,  at  the  beginning.  Is  any  would-be 
business  man  before  me  content  in  forecasting  his  future, 
to  figure  himself  as  laboring  all  his  life  for  a  fixed  salary? 
Not  one,  I  am  sure.  In  this  you  have  the  dividing  line  be- 
tween business  and  non-business;  the  one  is  a  master,  and 
depends  upon  profits,  the  other  a  servant,  and  depends  upon 
salary.  Of  course,  you  have  all  to  begin  as  servants  with 
salary,  but  you  have  not  all  to  end  there. 

You  have  some  diflficulty  in  obtaining  a  start,  great  dif- 
ficulty as  a  rule,  but  here  comes  in  the  exceptional  student. 
There  is  not  much  difl!iculty  for  him ;  he  has  attracted  the 
attention  of  his  teachers  who  know  many  men  of  affairs; 
has  taken  prizes ;  he  is  head  of  his  class ;  has  shown  unusual 
ability,  founded  upon  characteristics  which  are  sure  to  tell 
in  the  race;  he  has  proved  himself  self-respecting,  has  ir- 
reproachable habits,  good  sense,  method,  untiring  industry, 


s  Bwwrms 

and  his  spare  hours  are  spent  in  pursuing  knowledge,  that 
being  the  labor  in  which  he  most  delights. 

One  vital  point  more;  his  finances  are  always  sound,  he 
rigorously  lives  within  his  means,  and  last,  but  not  least, 
he  has  shown  that  his  heart  is  in  his  work.  Besides  all  this, 
he  has  usually  one  strong  guarantee  of  future  industry  and 
ambitious  usefulness,  he  is  not  burdened  with  wealth ;  it  is 
necessary  that  he  make  his  own  way  in  the  world.  He  is 
not  yet  a  millionaire,  but  is  only  going  to  be  one.  He  has  no 
rich  father,  or,  still  more  dangerous,  rich  mother,  who  can, 
and  will,  support  him  in  idleness  should  he  prove  a  failure ; 
he  has  no  life-preserver,  and  therefore  must  sink  or  swim. 
Before  that  young  man  leaves  college  he  is  a  marked  man. 
More  than  one  avenue  is  open  for  him.  The  door  opens  be- 
fore he  is  ready  to  knock ;  he  is  waited  for  by  the  sagacious 
employer.  Not  the  written  certificate  of  his  professor,  for 
certificates  have  generally  to  be  read,  and  are  read  within 
the  lines;  but  a  word  or  two  spoken  to  the  business  man 
who  is  always  on  the  lookout  for  the  exceptional  young 
graduate,  has  secured  the  young  man  all  that  a  young  man 
needs — a  start.  The  most  valuable  acquisition  to  his  busi- 
ness which  an  employer  can  obtain  is  an  exceptional  young 
man;  there  is  no  bargain  so  fruitful  for  him  as  this. 

It  is,  of  course,  much  more  diflScult  for  only  the  average 
student;  he  has  generally  to  search  for  employment,  but 
finally  he  also  gets  a  start. 

Openings  to  Success. 

The  career_of_thfi-jBxceptional  student  illustrates  the  path- 
way  to  success.  We  need  not  render  ourselves  anxious  about 
him ;  he  is  aU  right.  He  has  been  thrown  into  the  sea,  but 
he  does  not  need  any  life-preserver;  he  does  noFneed  to  be 
coddled,  he  will  swim ;  he  was  not  bom  to  be  drowned,  and 
you  see  him  breast  the  waves  year  after  year  until  he~l3 
at_the  head  of  a  great  business.  His  start,  of  course,  is" 
iiot  at  the  head,  he~is  at  the  'foot ;  fortunately  so,  for  that  Is~ 
thCreason  his  progress  has  always  been  upward.  If  he  had 
started  high  he  would  not  have  had  the  chance  to  make  a 


BUUNSSS  9 

continual  ascent.  It  does  not  matter  much  how  he  starts, 
for  the  qualities  in  him  are  such  as  to  produce  certain  ef- 
fects in  any  field  he  enters.  He  goes  forward  upon  a  very- 
small  salary,  performing  certain  small  uses,  indeed,  much 
smaller  than  he  thinks  himself  capable  of  performing,  but 
these  he  performs  thoroughly. 

Some  jday  in  some  way  something  happensthat  brings 
him  to  the  notice  of  his  immediate  superior.  He  objects 
to  some  plan  proposed,  and  thinks  it  can  be  bettered  in 
some  way,  or  he  volunteers  to  assist  in  a  department  other 
than  his  own ;  or  he  stops,  one  day,  later  at  his  work  than 
usual,  or  goes  some  morning  sooner,  because  there  was 
some  part  of  the  business  that  had  not  been  entirely  settled 
the  night  before,  or  there  was  something  to  start  next 
morning  that  he  was  afraid  might  not  be  ready  or  just 
right,  and  he  "just  goes  dovm  early  that  morning  and 
finds  his  salaried  young  man,  showing  that  he  does  not 
work  for  salary  alone;  it  is  not  solely  an  affair  of  "hire 
and  salary"  with  him ;  he  is  not  that  kind  of  a  young  man ; 
he  is  working  for  the  success  of  the  business.  Or  it  may 
be  that  some  day  his  employer  proposes  a  certain  mode  of 
action  in  regard  to  a  customer's  account ;  perhaps  the  young 
man  has  started  the  credits,  a  most  important  part.  His 
employers  wish  to  close  this  credit,  which,  perhaps  would 
embarrass  the  customer.  This  young  man,  known  to  the 
customer,  had  had  to  visit  his  place  occasionally  in  the 
course  of  business,  collecting  his  accounts,  or  trying  to  col- 
lect them,  and  the  young  man  modestly  says  he  is  a  splendid 
fellow,  bound  to  succeed,  does  his  business  upon  fair  and 
wise  methods,  and  only  needs  a  little  temporary  indulgence 
to  come  out  all  right. 

The  employer  has  faith  in  the  young  man's  judgment 
and  ability,  thinks  it  a  rather  strong  suggestion  for  a  clerk 
to  make,  but  says  to  him:  "You  look  out  for  this  matter, 
and  see  that  we  do  not  lose,  but,  of  course,  we  do  not  wish 
to  injure  one  of  our  customers;  if  we  can  help  him  with- 
out risk  we  wish  to  do  it."  The  young  man  takes  the  mat- 
ter in  hand,  and  results  prove  he  was  quite  right ;  the  cus- 
tomer becomes  one  of  the  very  best  of  all  their  customers, 


!•  BUSINESS 

and  one  that  it  would  require  a  great  deal  to  take  away 
from  the  firm. 

Or,  perhaps,  the  bright  young  man  may  have  noted  the 
insurance  policies  upon  the  works,  and  their  dates  of  ex- 
piration; he  finds  the  fact  has  :  aen  overlooked — that  some 
of  the  insurances  have  lapsed  and  are  invalid.  It  is  none 
of  his  business ;  he  is  not  paid  to  look  after  the  insurance  of 
the  firm ;  in  one  sense — the  narrow  sense — that  is  the  busi- 
ness of  some  other  man,  but  he  ventures  to  call  attention  to 
the  fact,  and  suggests  that  the  premiums  should  be  paid. 
But,  now  mark  the  advantage  of  general  reading  and  edu- 
cation. This  young  man  has  read  the  newspapers  and  re- 
views, and  learns  of  several  "sharp  business  practices"  by 
which  the  insurer  is  sometimes  (defrauded  of  his  insurance, 
and  especially  has  he  read  of  new  methods  and  cheap  plans 
of  insurance.  He  suggests  that  it  would  be  well  to  change 
this  and  that  policy  to  another  and  very  solid  old  company. 
You  see,  gentlemen,  the  business  man  of  this  day  has  to 
read,  yes,  and  study,  and  go  to  the  roots  of  many  things, 
that  he  may  avoid  the  pitfalls  that  surround  business  upon 
every  side.  He  would  not  be  an  employer  worth  having, 
that  did  not  note  what  kind  of  a  young  man  that  was,  al- 
though now  in  the  humble  guise  of  a  clerk. 

The  Seccnd  Step  Upv/ard. 

Suppose  he  is  an  electrician  or  engineer,  and  comes  from 
Sibley,  which  is  a  good  place  to  come  from.  In  the  gx^^t 
manufac. baring  concerii  to  forcunc.te  as  to  secure  his 
sersicjs,  he  hac  to  do  witii  3ome  humble  hrauzYi  of  tlc^ 
v.'ork,  tut  he  diticovers  that  there  are  a  few  boilers  which 
are  not  quica  safe,  and  that  the  engines  or  motors  are 
built  upon  false  mechanlci:l  "j^riiiciples,  2nd  ise  very  waste- 
ful of  fuel,  and  that  one  of  the  engines  will  soon  give 
trouble ;  there  is  a  foundation  under  it  upon  which  he  finds 
that  the  contractor  has  not  done  honest  work ;  or  dropping 
into  the  works  one  night  just  to  see  that  all  is  going  well, 
perhaps  he  discovers  that  a  man  trusted  by  the  firm  has 
fallen  into  bad  habits,  and  is  not  fit  for  duty,  or  perhaps  is 
not  on  duty,  and  that  an  accident  might  thus  happen.    He 


BUSINESS  11 

feels  it  to  be  his  duty  to  take  action  here  and  safeguard 
the  business  from  the  danger  of  an  accident.  He  draws 
the  plans  which  show  some  defects  in  the  machinery,  lays 
them  before  his  employers  with  suggestions  how  to  cure  these, 
made  upon  the  latest  scientific  principles  that  he  had  been 
taught  in  Sibley.  The  employer,  of  course,  is  very  averse 
to  spend  money,  and  angry  to  learn  that  his  machinery  is 
not  what  it  should  be.  But  although  his  anger  explodes 
and  envelops  the  young  man  for  a  moment,  he  is  not  shoot- 
ing at  him;  when  the  debris  clears  off  he  sits  down  and 
learns  from  the  young  man  what  a  few  thousand  dollars 
now  might  save,  and  the  result  is  that  he  tells  the  Sibley 
boy  he  wishes  him  to  take  up  this  subject  and  attend  to  it, 
and  be  sure  to  make  it  all  right. 

Already  that  young  man's  fortune  is  almost  as  good 
as  mado.  He  could  not  hide  his  light  under  a  bushel  if  he 
tried,  and  the  coming  business  man  is  not  excessively  liable 
to  that  sin,  and  does  not  want  to;  he  is  business  all  over 
There  is  no  affectation  or  false  modesty  about  him.  Ee 
knows  his  business,  and  he  feels  fully  conscious  and  proud 
of  the  fact  that  he  knows  it,  and  that  is  one  of  the  many 
advantages  Sibley  gives  him,  and  he  is  determined  that  his 
employer  should  not,  at  least  upon  that  point,  know  less 
thaii  he  does.  You  must  never  fail  to  enlighten  your  em- 
ployer. You  cannot  keep  such  a  young  man  as  that  back ; 
and  this  let  me  teli  you,  no  employer  wishes  to  keep  him 
back.  Ihere  is  only  one  person  as  happy  at  findmg  this  young 
man  as  the  young  man  is  in  finding  himself,  and  that  is  his 
employer.  He  is  worth  a  million,  more  or  less,  but,  of  course, 
it  would  not  be  good  for  him  to  ge:  it  while  so  young. 

He  has  now  made  two  steps  forward.  First,  he  has  got 
a  start,  and,  secondly,  he  1  as  satisfied  his  employer  that  he 
renders  exceptional  service,  a  decisive  step;  as  the  French 
say,  "he  has  arrived,"  and  is  there  to  stay.  His  foot  is  upon 
the  ladder;  how  high  he  climbs  is  his  own  affair.  He  is 
among  the  few  within  the  very  threshold  of  the  whole  busi- 
ness. 

There  is  a  good  deal  to  be  done  after  this,  however.  This 


12  6USINEU 

young  man  has  zeal  and  ability,  and  he  has  shown  that  he 
has  also  that  indispensable  quality — judgment;  and  he  has 
shown  another  indispensable  quality — that  his  heart  is  in 
the  business ;  that  no  other  cause  takes  him  from  it ;  that  he 
pushes  aside  the  very  seductive  temptations  which  surround 
young  men,  and  concentrates  his  attention,  his  time,  his 
efforts,  upon  the  performance  of  his  duties  to  his  employer. 
All  other  studies,  occupations,  and  all  amusements  are  sub- 
ordinate to  the  business,  which  holds  paramount  sway.  His 
salary,  of  course,  increases.  If  he  has  happened  to  engage 
with  an  employer  who  does  not  fully  appreciate  such  serv- 
ices as  he  has  rendered,  and  is  ready  to  render,  other  em- 
ployers have  not  failed  to  note  that  here  is  that  rare  article, 
the  exceptional  young  man,  in  the  service  of  their  rival,  and 
it  is  possible  that  our  young  hero  may  have  to  change  em- 
ployers. It  does  not  often  happen,  but  it  does  sometimes, 
that  a  young  man  has  to  do  so.  As  a  rule,  the  employer  is 
only  too  thankful  that  such  a  young  man  has  come  to  him, 
and  he  makes  it  his  interest  to  remain.  Confidence  is  a 
matter  of  slow  growth,  however,  and  it  is  a  far  cry  from  a 
high  salary  as  a  hireling,  into  equality  as  a  partner. 

The  Crucial  Question. 

Let  us  trace  him  a  little  further.  This  young  man's 
services  to  the  firm  have  been  such  as  to  render  it  necessary 
some  day  that  he  should  visit  his  employer  at  his  house. 
It  is  not  long  before  many  occasions  arise  which  call  the 
young  man  to  the  house,  where  he  is  now  favored  upon  his 
merits  by  the  household,  and  to  whom  his  nature  soon  be- 
comes known,  and  the  master  soon  begins  to  ask  himself 
whether  he  might  not  some  day  make  him  a  partner,  and 
then  comes  the  question  of  questions:  Is  he  honest  and 
true?  Let  me  pause  here  one  moment.  '  '  -^    " 

Gentlemen,  this  is  the  crucial  question,  the  keystone  of 
the  arch ;  for  no  amount  of  ability  is  of  the  slightest  avail 
without  honor.  When  Bums  pictured  the  Genius  of  Scot- 
land in  "The  Vision,"  these  marvelous  words  came  to  him: 

"Her  eye,  ev'n  tum'd  on  empty  space, 
Beam'd  keen  wi'  honor." 


BUSINESS  IS 

No  concealment,  no  prevarication,  no  speculation,  trying- 
to  win  something  for  which  no  service  is  given;  nothing 
done  which,  if  published,  would  involve  your  shame.  The 
business  man  seeks  first  in  his  partner  "the  soul  of  honor," 
one  who  would  swerve  from  the  narrow  path  even  to  serve 
him  would  only  forfeit  his  confidence.  Is  he  intelligent? 
Is  he  capable  of  forming  a  correct  judgment,  based  upon 
knowledge,  upon  distant  and  far-reaching  issues?  Young 
men,  yes,  and  old  men  also,  sometimes  marry  in  haste, 
which  is  very  foolish  in  both  cases.  But  there  is  this  to  be 
said  for  the  partnership — it  is  rarely  entered  upon  in  a 
hurry.  It  is  not  one  or  two  qualities  which  insure  it,  but  an 
all-around  character,  desirable  in  many  respects,  highly  ob- 
jectionable in  none,  and  with  special  ability  in  one  or  two. 

We  often  hear  in  our  day  that  it  is  impossible  for  young 
men  to  become  owners,  because  business  is  conducted  upon 
so  great  a  scale  that  the  capital  necessary  reaches  mil- 
lions, and,  therefore,  the  young  man  is  doomed  to  a  salaried 
life.  Now  there  is  something  in  that  view  only  so  far  as 
the  great  corporations  are  concerned,  because  an  interest  in 
these  is  only  obtainable  by  capital;  you  can  buy  so  many 
shares  for  so  many  dollars,  and  as  the  class  of  young  men 
I  address  are  not  willing  to  remain  forever  salaried  men, 
but  are  determined  sooner  or  later,  to  become  business  men 
upon  their  own  account,  as  masters,  I  do  not  believe  that 
employment  in  a  great  corporation  is  as  favorable  for  them 
as  with  private  owners,  because,  while  a  young  man  can 
look  forward  to  a  large  salary  in  their  service,  that  is  all  to 
which  he  can  aspire.  Even  the  presidents  of  these  corpora- 
tions, being  only  salaried  men,  are  not  to  be  classed  as 
strictly  business  men  at  all.  How,  then,  can  a  young  man 
under  them  be  anything  but  a  salaried  man  his  life  long? 

Where  to  Look  for  Opportunities. 

Many  a  business  which  has  long  been  successful  as  a 
partnership  is  put  into  a  joint  stock  concern,  and  the  shares 
are  offered  in  the  market,  and  professional  men,  guile- 
lessly innocent  of  business,  and,  sometimes,  women  of  a 


14  BUSINESS 

speculative  turn,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  many  times  clergy- 
men, and  artists,  are  deluded  into  purchasing.  The  pub- 
lic buys  the  business,  but  they  should  have  bought  the 
man  or  men  who  made  the  business. 

/ou  remember  the  Travers  story  ?  A  friend  called  Trav- 
ers  in  to  see  a  dog  that  he  wished  to  buy  to  clear  his 
conservatory  of  rats,  and  when  the  dog-fancier  undertook 
to  show  him  how  this  dog  demolished  these  pests,  one 
great,  big  old  rat  chased  the  dog.  Travers'  friend  said  to 
him: 

**What  would  you  do?" 

Travers  replied:  "B-b-b-buy  the  rat." 

The  public  often  buys  the  wrong  thing. 

It  would  be  an  excellent  study  for  you  to  read  frequent- 
ly the  stock-lists  of  miscellaneous  companies.  You  will 
find  some  of  the  newspapers  give  the  list,  and  then  note  the 
par  value  of  the  shares  and  the  price  at  which  you  may 
purchase  them.  It  may  be  said  that  this  par  value  is  upon 
fictitious  capital.  That  is  so  only  in  some  instances;  in 
manufacturing  companies  especially,  I  think  the  reverse  is 
the  rule.  The  capital  does  not  fully  represent  the  cost  of 
the  properties. 

But  there  are  many  corporations  which  are  not  corpora- 
tions, many  instances  of  partnership  in  which  the  corporate 
form  has  been  adopted,  and  yet  the  business  continued 
substantially  as  a  partnership,  and  comparing  such  insti- 
tutions with  the  great  corporations  whose  ownership  is 
here,  there,  and  everywhere,  we  find  a  most  notable  dif- 
ference. Take,  for  instance,  the  great  steamship  lines  of 
the  world.  Most  of  these,  as  those  of  you  who  read  well 
know,  fail  to  make  returns  to  their  shareholders.  The 
shares  of  some  of  the  greatest  companies  have  been  selling 
at  one-half  and  sometimes  one-third  -their  cost.  These 
are  corporations,  pure  and  simple,  but  if  we  look  at  other 


BUSINESS  18 

lines  engaged  upon  the  same  oceans,  which  are  managed 
by  their  owners  and  in  which,  generally,  one  great  busi- 
ness man  is  deeply  interested  and  at  the  head,  we  find  large 
dividends  each  year  and  amounts  placed  to  the  reserve 
fund.  It  is  the  difference  between  individualism  and  com- 
munism applied  to  business,  between  the  owners  managing 
their  own  business  as  partners,  and  a  joint  stock  concern 
of  a  thousand  shifting  owners  ignorant  of  the  business. 

The  same  contrast  can  be  drawn  in  every  branch  of 
business,  in  merchandising,  in  manufacturing,  in  finance, 
in  transportation  by  land  as  well  as  by  sea.  It  is  so  with 
banks.  Many  banks  are  really  the  property  of  a  few  busi- 
ness men.  These  soon  become  the  leading  banks,  and  their 
shares  are  invr.i-iably  quoted  at  the  highest  premium,  es- 
pecially if  the  president  of  the  bank  be  the  largest  owner, 
as  he  is  in  many  of  the  m.ost  remarkable  cases  of  success. 
In  such  partnership  corporations  there  is  every  opportunity 
for  the  coming  business  :T.an  to  obtain  ownership  v/hich 
exists  in  pure  partnerships,  for  the  owners  of  both  man- 
age affairs  and  are  on  the  constant  watch  for  ability. 

Do  not  be  fastidir.:;  take  whai;  tlia  gods  offer.  Begin, 
if  necessary,  with  a  corporation,  always  keeping  your  eye  ca  wx"^^ 
open  for  a  chance^to  become^jiitergsted  in  a  business,_Qf  ^^  ^ 
your  own.  RemembeF  every  business  can  be  made  success- 
ful,  because  it  supplies  some  essential  want  of  the  communi- 
ty; it  performs  a  needed  office,  whether  it  be  in  manu- 
facturing which  produces  an  article,  or  in  gathering  and 
distributing  it  by  the  merchant ;  or  the  banker,  whose  busi- 
ness is  to  take  care  of  an  invest  capital. 

There  is  no  line  of  business  in  which  success  is  not  at- 
tainable. 

A  Secret  of  Success. 

It  is  a  simple  matter  of  honest  work,  ability,  and  con- 
centration.   There  is  no  question  about  there  being  raomX 
at  the  top  fof^xceptiohalljiLen  in  any  professjon.     These'" 
have  not  to  seek  patronage;  the  question  is,  raflier,  how 


16  BUSINESS 

can  their  services  be  secured,  and,  as  with  every  profes- 
sion, so  in  every  line  of  business,  there  is  plenty  of  room 
at  the  top.  Your  problem  is  how  to  get  there.  The  answer 
is  simple:  conduct  your  business  with  just  a  little  more 
ability  than  the  average  man  in  your  line.  If  you  are  only 
above  the  average  your  success  is  secured,  and  the  degree 
of  success  is  in  ratio  to  the  greater  degree  of  ability  and 
attention  which  you  give  above  the  average.  There  are 
always  a  few  in  business  who  stand  near  the  top,  but  there 
are  always  an  infinitely  greater  number  at  or  near  the 
bottom.  And  should  you  fail  to  ascend,  the  fault  is  not 
in  your  stars,  but  in  yourselves.  Those  who  fail  may  say 
that  this  or  that  man  had  great  advantages^  the  fates 
Were  propitious,  the  conditions  favorable.  Now,  there  is 
very  little  in  this ;  one  man  lands  in  the  middle  of  the  stream 
which  he  tries  to  jump,  and  is  swept  away,  and  another 
tries  the  same  feat,  and  lands  upon  the  other  side. 

Examine  these  two  men. 

You  will  find  that  the  one  who  failed  lacked  judgment; 
he  had  not  calculated  the  means  to  the  end;  was  a  foolish 
fellow;  had  not  trained  himself;  could  not  jump;  he  took 
the  chances.  He  was  like  the  young  lady  who  was  asked  if 
she  could  play  the  violin ;  she  said  she  "did  not  know,  she  had 
never  tried."  Now,  the  other  man  who  jumped  the  stream 
had  carefully  trained  himself;  he  knew  about  how  far  he 
could  jump,  and  there  was  one  thing  "dead  sure"  with  him, 
he  knew  he  could,  at  any  rate,  jump  far  enough  to  land 
at  a  point  from  which  he  could  wade  ashore,  and  try  again. 
He  had  shown  judgment. 

Prestige  is  a  great  matter,  my  friends.  A  young  man 
who  has  the  record  of  doing  what  he  sets  out  to  do  will 
find  year  after  year  his  field  of  operations  extended,  and 
the  tasks  committed  to  him  greater  and  greater.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  man  who  has  to  admit  failure  and  comei 
to  friends  trying  to  get  assistance  in  order  to  make  a 
second  start  is  in  a  very  bad  position,  indeed. 


BUSINESS  17 

College  Graduates  in  Business. 

The  graduates  of  our  colleges  and  universities  in  former 
years  graduated  while  yet  in  their  teens.  We  have  changed 
this,  and  graduates  are  older,  as  a  rule,  when  they  enter 
upon  life's  struggle,  but  they  are  taught  much  more.  Un- 
less the  young  university  man  employs  his  time  to  the 
very  best  advantage  in  acquiring  knowledge  upon  the  pur- 
suit which  he  is  to  make  the  chief  business  of  his  life,  he 
will  enter  business  at  a  disadvantage  with  younger  men 
who  enter  in  their  teens,  although  lacking  in  university 
education.  This  goes  without  saying.  Now,  the  question 
is :  Will  the  graduate  who  has  dwelt  in  the  region  of  theory 
overtake  the  man  who  has  been  for  a  year  or  two  in  ad- 
vance of  him,  engaged  in  the  hard  and  stern  educative 
field  of  practice. 

That  it  is  possible  for  the  graduate  to  do  so  also  goes 
without  saying,  and  that  he  should  in  after  life  possess 
views  broader  than  the  ordinary  business  man,  deprived 
*  of  university  education,  is  also  certain,  and,  of  course,  the 
race  in  life  is  to  those  whose  record  is  best  at  the  end ;  the 
beginning  is  forgotten  and  is  of  no  moment.  But  if  the 
graduate  is  ever  to  overtake  the  first  starter  in  the  race, 
it  must  be  by  possessing  stronger  staying-powers ;  his  su- 
perior knowledge  leading  to  sounder  judgment  must  be 
depended  upon  to  win  the  race  at  the  finish.  A  few  disad- 
vantages he  must  strenuously  guard  against,  the  lack  of 
severe  self -discipline,  of  strenuous  concentration,  and  in- 
tense ambition,  which  usually  characterizes  the  man  who 
starts  before  the  habits  of  manhood  are  formed.  The 
habits  of  the  young  man  at  college,  after  he  is  a  man,  and 
the  habits  of  the  youngster  in  the  business  arena  are  like- 
ly to  differ. 

There  is  another  great  disadvantage  which  the  older 
man  has  to  overcome  in  most  successful  business  establish- 
ments. There  will  be  found  in  operation  there  a  strict  civil- 
service  system  and  promotion  without  favor.  It  is,  there- 
fore, most  difficult  to  find  admission  to  the  service  in  any 


It  BUSINESS 

but  the  lowest  grades.  One  has  to  begin  at  the  foot,  and 
this  is  better  for  all  parties  concerned,  especially  the  young 
graduate. 

The  exceptional  graduate  should  excel  the  exceptional 
non-gi'aduate.  He  has  more  education,  and  education  will 
always  tell,  the  other  qualities  being  equal.  Take  two  men 
of  equal  r.atural  ability,  energy,  and  the  same  ambition 
and  characteristics,  and  the  man  who  has  received  the  best, 
widest,  most  suitable  education  has  the  advantage  over  the 
other,  undoubtedly. 

Business  Men  and  Speculators. 

/  All  pure  coins  have  their  counterfeits;  the  counterfeit 
of  business  is  speculation.  A  man  in  business  always  gives 
value  in  return  for  his  revenue,  and  thus  perforais  a  use- 
ful function.     His  services  are  necessarj^  and  benefit  the 

\  community;  besides,  he  labors  steadily  in  developing  the 
resources  of.  the  country,  and  thus  contributes  to  the  ad- 
vancement cf  the  race.  This  is  genuine  coin.  Specula- 
tion, on  tho  contrary,  is  a  parasite  fastened  upon-  the  £bor 
ol:  business  men.  It  creates  nothing  and  supplies  no  want. 
When~fKespecliTator  wins  he  takes  money  without  ren- 
\    dering  service,  or  giving  value  therefor,  and  when  he  loses, 

1    his  fellov/-s.oecMb.tor  takes  the  money  from  him.     It  is  a 

\   pure  gambling  operation  between  them,  degrading  to  both. 

■  Vnn  pflTTji-^rA^  Y^  ^n  linnp.st  man  of  business  and.  a  specu- 
lator. The  "[rode<5  and  aims  of  the  one  career  are  fatal  to 
the  other.  No  business  man  can  honestly  speculate,  for 
those  who  trust  him  have  a  right  to  expect  strict  adherence 
to  business  methods.  The  creditor  takes  the  usual  risks 
of  business,  but  not  those  of  s  oiculation.  The  genuine  and 
the  counterfeit  have  nothing  in  common. 

That  95  per  cent  fail  of  those  who  start  in  business  upon 
their  own  account  seems  n. credible,  and  yet  such  are  said 
to  be  the  statistics  upon  the  subject.  Although  it  is  said 
that  figures  v/ill  say  anything,  still  it  is  a  fact  that  the 
proportion  is  very  great.  Do  not  think  that  I  wish  to  dis- 
courage you  against  attempting  to  be  your  own  masters 


BUSINESS  19 

and  having  a  business  of  your  own ;  very  far  from  it.  Be- 
sides, the  coming  business  man  is  not  to  be  discouraged 
by  anything  that  anybody  can  say.  He  is  a  true  knight 
who  says  with  Fitzjames: 

"If  the  path  be  dangerous  known, 
The  danger  self  is  lure  alone." 

The  young  man  who  is  determined  to  be  a  business  man 
will  not  be  thwarted,  neither  will  he  be  diverted  into  any 
other  channel,  and  he  is  going  to  start  and  have  a  trial; 
he  will  "make  a  spoon  or  spoil  a  horn"  trying  to  make  it. 
He  must  go  ahead  and  find  it  out.  Time  enough  to  confine 
yourself  to  a  life-long  bondage  as  mere  receivers  of  a  salary 
alter  you  have  tried  business,  and  really  discovered  whether 
or  not  you  are  one  of  the  gifted  who  possess  all  the  necessary 
qualities. 

I  have  tried  to  sketch  the  path  of  the  exceptional  grad- 
uate from  salary  to  partnership.  It  is  no  fancy  sketch ;  there 
is  not  a  day  passes  without  changes  in  many  firms  which 
raise  young  men  to  partnership,  and  in  every  single  city  no 
first  of  January  passes  without  such  promotions.  Business 
requires  fresh  young  blood  for  its  existence.  If  any  of 
you  are  discouraged  upon  this  point,  let  me  give  you  two 
stories  within  my  own  experience,  which  should  certainly 
cheer  you. 

A  Sketch  from  Life. 

There  is  a  large  manufacturer,  the  largest  in  the  world 
in  his  line.  I  know  him  well,  a  splendid  man,  who  illustrates 
the  business  career  at  its  best.  Now,  like  all  sensible  bus- 
iness men,  as  he  grew  in  years  he  realized  that  fresh  blood 
must  be  introduced  into  his  business ;  that  while  it  was  com- 
paratively easy  for  him  to  manage  the  extensive  business 
at  present,  it  was  wise  to  provide  for  its  continuance  in 
able  hands  after  he  had  retired.  Rich  men  seldom  have 
sons  who  inherit  a  taste  for  business.  I  am  not  concerned 
to  say  whether  this  is  well  or  otherwise.  Looking  at  the 
human  race  as  a  whole,  I  believe  it  is  for  good. 

If  rich  men's  sons  had  poor  men's  necessities,  and,  hence 
their  ambitious  abilities,  there  would  be  less  chance  for 


2%  BUSINESS 

the  students  of  colleges  than  there  is.  It  was  not  to  any 
member  of  his  family  that  this  man  looked  for  the  new 
young  blood.  A  young  man  in  the  service  of  a  corporation 
had  attracted  his  attention  in  the  management  of  certain 
business  matters  connected  with  the  firm.  The  young  man 
had  to  call  upon  this  gentleman  frequently.  The  wise  man 
did  not  move  hastily  in  the  matter.  About  his  ability  he 
was  soon  satisfied,  but  that  covered  only  one  point  of  many. 
What  were  the  young  man's  surroundings,  habits,  tastes, 
acquirements?  Beyond  his  immediate  business,  what  was 
his  nature?  He  found  everything  in  these  matters  just  as 
he  would  have  it.  The  young  man  was  supporting  a  widowed 
mother  and  a  sister ;  he  had  as  friends  some  excellent  young 
men,  and  some  older  than  himself;  he  was  a  student;  he 
was  a  reader;  had  high  tastes,  of  course;  I  need  hardly 
say  that  he  was  a  young  gentleman,  highly  self-respecting, 
the  soul  of  honor,  incapable  of  anything  low  or  vulgar;  in 
short,  a  model  young  man,  and  of  course,' poor — ^that  goes 
without  saying.  ^ — j:^..--'' 

The  young  man  was  sent  for,  and  the  millionaire  told  him 
that  he  should  like  very  much  to  try  him  in  his  service, 
and  asked  the  young  man  if  he  would  make  the  trial.  The 
millionaire  stated  frankly  what  he  was  looking  for — a  young 
business  man  who  might  develop,  and  finally  relieve  him  of 
much  care.  The  arrangement  was  that  he  should  come  for 
two  years  as  a  clerk,  subject  to  clerk's  rules,  which  in  this 
case  was  very  hard,  because  he  had  to  be  at  the  factory  a 
few  minutes  before  seven  in  the  morning.  He  was  to  have 
a  salary  somewhat  larger  than  he  had  received,  and,  if  at 
the  end  of  two  years  nothing  had  been  said  on  either  side, 
no  obligations  were  weaved,  each  was  free.  He  was  simply 
on  trial.  The  young  man  proudly  said  he  would  not  have 
it  otherwise. 

The  business  went  on.  Before  the  two  years  expired  the 
employer  was  satisfied  that  he  had  found  that  exceedingly 
rare  thing,  a  young  business  man.  What  a  number  of  qual- 
ities this  embraces,  including  judgment,  for  without  judg- 
ment a  business  man  amounts  to  nothing.  The  employer 
stated  to  the  young  man  that  he  was  delighted  with  him, 


BUSINESS  21 

pleased  with  his  services,  and  expressed  his  joy  at  having 
found  him.  He  had  now  arranged  to  interest  him  in  the 
firm.    But  to  his  amazement  the  young  man  rephed: 

"Thanks,  thanks,  but  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  accept." 

''What  is  the  matter  ?    You  suit  me ;  do  I  not  suit  you  ?" 

"Excuse  me,  sir,  but  for  reasons  which  I  cannot  explain, 
I  am  to  leave  your  service  in  six  months,  when  my  two 
years  are  up,  and  I  intended  to  give  you  notice  of  this,  that 
you  might  fill  my  place." 

"Where  are  you  going?" 

**I  am  going  abroad." 

"Have  you  made  any  engagement?" 

"No,  sir." 

"Do  you  not  know  where  you  are  going?" 

"No,  sir." 

"Nor  what  you  are  to  do?" 

"No,  sir." 

"Sir,  I  have  treated  you  well,  and  I  do  think  I  am  en- 
titled to  know  the  real  reason.  I  think  it  is  your  duty  to 
tell  me." 

The  reason  was  dragged  out  of  the  young  man.  "You 
have  been  too  good  to  me.  I  would  give  anything  to  be  able 
to  remain  with  you.  You  even  invited  me  to  your  house; 
you  have  been  absent  traveling ;  you  asked  me  to  call  often 
to  take  your  wife  and  daughter  to  such  entertainments  as 
they  wished  to  attend,  and  I  cannot  stand  it  any  longer." 

Well,  the  millionaire,  of  course,  discovered  what  all  of  you 
have  suspected,  just  what  you  would  have  done  under  the 
circumstances.  He  had  fallen  in  love  with  the  daughter. 
Now  in  this  country  that  would  not  have  been  considered 
much  of  an  indiscretion,  and  I  do  not  advise  any  of  you  to 
fight  against  it.  If  you  really  love,  you  should  overlook 
the  objection  that  it  is  your  employer's  daughter  who  has 


M  BUSINESS 

conquered,  and  that  you  may  have  to  bear  the  burden  of 
riches ;  but  in  the  land  of  which  I  speak  it  would  have  been 
considered  dishonorable  for  a  young  clerk  to  make  love  to 
any  young  lady  without  the  parents'  permission. 

"Have  you  spoken  to  my  da-ighter?"  was  the  question. 
The  young  man  scarcely  deigned  to  reply  to  that. 

"Of  course  not." 

"Never  said  a  word,  or  led  her  to  suspect  in  any  way?" 

"Of  course  not/* 

"Well,"  he  said,  "I  do  not  see  why  you  should  not;  you 
are  the  very  kind  of  son-in-law  I  want  if  you  can  win  my 
daughter." 

Very  strange,  but  somehow  or  other,  the  young  lady 
did  not  differ  from  papa;  he  was  the  kind  of  husband  she 
wanted.  Now  that  young  man  is  a  happy  business  man 
today. 

Romance  in  Business 

I  have  another  story  which  happened  in  another  coun- 
try. Both  the  fathers-in-law  told  me  these  stories  them- 
selves, and  proud  men  they  are,  and  proud  am  I  of  their 
friendship.  You  see,  business  is  not  all  cnis  hard  prosaic 
life  that  it  is  pictured.  It  bears  romance  and  sentiment 
in  it,  and  the  greater  the  business,  the  more  successful, 
the  more  useful,  in  my  experience,  there  is  found  the  more 
romance  and  imagination.  The  highest  triumphs  even  in 
business  flow  from  romance,  sentiment,  imagination,  par- 
ticularly in  the  business  of  a  world-wide  firm. 

The  other  story  is  so  similar  to  the  first  that  successful 
telling  is  impossible.  You  will  all  jump  to  the  conclusion, 
and  the  details  in  these  cases  are  nothing.  It  is  r,s  \vhen  I 
began  to  tell  my  young  nephews  about  the  battle  of  Ban- 
nockbum;  there  were  the  English,  and  there  stood  the 
Scotch. 

**Which  whipped,  uncle?"  cried  the  three  at  once — details 
unnecessary.  But  there  was  no  battle  in  this  case.  I  in- 
fer it  was  all  settled  by  amicable  arbitration. 


BUSINESS  U 

I  shall  not  tell  it  at  length,  as  I  did  the  other,  but  it  is 
precisely  the  same,  except  that  the  young  man  in  this  case 
was  not  employed  except  in  the  ordinary  manner.  The 
young  man's  services  were  needed,  and  he  was  employed. 
He  finally  became  private  secretary  to  the  millionaire,  and 
with  equally  fatal  results.  In  this  case,  however,  the  father 
asked  the  exemplary  and  able  young  man  to  look  after  his 
sons  during  his  absence.  This  necessitated  visits  to  the 
residence  at  the  country  house,  and  sports  and  games  with 
the  sons.  My  friend  forgot  he  had  a  daughter,  and  he 
should  not  have  done  this.  "WTien  you  become  not  only 
heads  of  business  but  heads  of  families,  you  should  make 
a  note  of  this,  and  not  think  your  sons  everything.  The 
private  secretary,  who  was  requested  to  attend  to  the  sons, 
somehow  or  other,  getting  his  instructions  verbally,  seems 
to  have  understood  them  as  having  a  slightly  wider  range. 
The  daughter  apparently  needed  most  of  his  attention. 
But  note  this:  These  two  young  men  won  the  confidence 
and  captured  the  judgment  and  admiration  of  their  employ- 
ers— ^business  men — first,  and  then  fell  in  love  with  the 
daughters.  You  will  be  perfectly  safe  if  you  take  matters 
in  the,  same  order  of  precedence. 

Value  of  a  Business  Career. 

Perhaps  I  may  be  permitted,  without  going  too  far  be- 
yond the  scope  of  my  text,  to  m_ake  a  few  rem. arks  upon  the 
influence  of  a  business  career  upon  men,  as  con.pared  with 
other  pursuits. 

First,  then,  I  hwe  learned  that  the  artistic  career  is 
most  naiTcwi:!^;  a^id  prc-duces  such  petty  jealouaies,  un- 
bounded vanities,  and  r,pitofi:lness,  £s  to  furnish  me  with  a 
great  contrast  to  that  which  I  have  found  in  men  of  af- 
fairs. Music,  painting,  sculpture,  one  would  think,  should 
prove  most  powerful  in  their  beneficent  effects  upon  those 
who  labor  with  them  as  their  daily  vocation.  Experience, 
however,  is  against  this.  Perhaps,  because  the  work,  or 
the  performance,  of  artists  is  so  highly  personal,  so  clear- 
ly seen,  being  brought  directly  before  the  public,  that  petty 


24  BUSINESS 

passions  are  stimulated;  however  that  may  be,  I  believe 
it  will  not  be  controverted  that  the  artistic  mind  becomes 
prejudiced  and  narrow.  But,  understand,  I  speak  only  of 
classes  and  of  the  general  effect;  everywhere  we  find  ex- 
ceptions which  render  the  average  still  more  satisfactory. 
In  regard  to  what  are  called  the  learned  professions,  we 
notice  the  effect  produced  by  specialization  in  a  very  marked 
degree. 

In  the  ministerial  class  this  is  not  so  marked  in  our  day, 
because  leaders  in  that  great  function  permit  themselves 
a  wider  range  of  subjects  than  ever  before,  and  are  dealing 
less  with  creeds  and  formulas  and  more  and  more  with 
the  practical  evils  and  shortcomings  of  human  life  in  its 
various  phases.  This  naturally  broadens  the  mind.  It  has 
been  held  that  the  legal  profession  must  tend  to  make  clear, 
but  narrow,  intellects,  and  it  is  pointed  out  that  great 
lawyers  have  seldom  arisen  to  commanding  position  and 
power  over  their  fellows.  This  does  not  mean  that  men 
who  study  law  become  unsatisfactory  legislators  or  states- 
men and  rulers.  If  it  did,  our  country,  of  all  others,  should 
be  in  a  bady  way,  because  we  are  governed  by  lawyers. 
But  the  most  famous  Americans  who  have  been  great  men 
were  not  great  lawyers ;  that  is,  they  have  seldom  attained 
the  foremost  rank  in  the  profession,  but  have  availed  them- 
selves of  the  inestimable  advantage  which  the  study  of  law 
confers  upon  a  statesman,  and  developed  beyond  the  bounds 
of  the  profession.  We  are  reminded  that  the  great  lawyer 
and  the  great  judge  must  deal  with  rules  and  precedents 
already  established ;  the  lawyer  follows  precedents,  but  the 
ruler  of  men  makes  precedents. 

Merchants  and  Professional  Men. 

The  tendency  of  all  professions,  it  would  seem,  must  be 
to  make  what  is  known  as  the  professional  mind  clear,  but 
narrow.  Now  what  may  be  claimed  for  business  as  a  career 
is  that  the  man  in  business  is  called  upon  to  deal  with  an 
ever-changing  variety  of  questions.  He  must  have  an  all- 
round  judgment  based  upon  knowledge  of  many  subjects. 


B¥SINISS  M 

It  is  not  sufficient  for  the  grreat  merchant  and  business  man 
of  our  day  that  he  know  his  country  well,  its  physical 
conditions,  its  resources,  statistics,  crops,  waterways,  its 
finances,  in  short,  all  conditions  which  affect  not  only  the 
present,  but  which  give  him  data  upon  which  he  can  pre- 
dict, with  some  degree  of  certainty,  the  future. 

The  merchant  whose  operations  extend  to  various  coun- 
tries must  also  know  these  countries,  and  also  the  chief 
things  pertaining  to  them.  His  view  must  be  world-wide; 
nothing  can  happen  of  moment  which  has  not  its  bearing 
upon  his  action — political  complications  at  Constantinople; 
the  appearance  of  tl.j  cholera  in  the  East;  monsoon  in  In- 
dia ;  the  supply  of  gold  at  Cripple  Creek ;  the  appearance  of 
the  Colorado  beetle  or  the  fall  of  a  ministry ;  the  danger  of 
war;  the  likelihood  of  arbitration  compelling  settlement — 
nothing  can  happen  in  any  part  of  the  world  which  he  has 
not  to  consider.  He  must  possess  one  of  the  -  ..rest  qual- 
ities— ^be  an  excellent  judge  of  men;  he  often  employs 
thousands,  and  knows  how  to  bring  the  best  out  of  various 
characters ;  he  must  have  the  gift  of  organization — another 
rare  gift ;  must  have  executive  ability ;  must  be  able  to  de- 
cide promptly  and  wisely. 

Now,  none  of  these  rare  qualities  are  so  absolutely  essen- 
tial to  the  specialist  in  any  branch  or  profession.  He  fol- 
lows a  career,  therefore,  which  tends  not  only  to  sharpen 
his  wits,  but  to  enlarge  his  powers;  different,  also,  from 
any  other  careers,  that  it  tends  not  to  specialization  and 
the  working  of  the  mind  within  narrow  grooves,  but  tends 
to  develop  in  a  man  capacity  to  judge  upon  wide  data.  No 
professional  life  embraces  so  many  problems,  none  other 
requires  so  wide  a  view  of  affairs  in  general.  I  think, 
therefore,  that  it  may  justly  be  said,  for  the  business 
career,  that  it  must  widen  and  develop  the  intellectual  pow- 
ers of  its  devotee. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  professional  career  is  immeasur- 
ably nobler  in  this:  that  it  has  not  for  its  chief  end  the 
ifirnoble  aim  of  money-making  and  is  free  from  the  greatest 


26  BUSINESS 

danger  which  besets  the  career  of  business,  which  is  in  one 
sense  the  most  sordid  of  all  careers  if  entered  upon  in  the 
wrong  spirit.  To  make  money  is  no  doubt  the  primary  con- 
sideration with  most  young  men  who  enter  it.  I  think 
if  you  will  look  into  your  hearts  you  will  finds  this  to  be 
true.  But  while  this  may  be  the  first,  it  should  not  be  the 
last  consideration. 

There  is  the  great  use  which  a  man  can  perform  in  de- 
veloping the  resources  of  his  country;  in  furnishing  em- 
ployment to  thousands;  in  developing  inventions  which 
prove  of  great  benefit  to  the  race,  to  help  it  forward.  The 
successful  man  of  affairs  soon  rises  above  the  mere  desire 
to  make  money  as  the  chief  end  of  his  labors ;  that  is  super- 
seded by  thoughts  of  the  uses  he  performs  in  the  line  which 
I  have  just  mentioned.  The  merchant  soon  finds  his  strong- 
est feeling  to  be  that  of  pride  in  the  extent  of  his  interna- 
tional operations ;  in  his  ships  sailing  every  sea.  The  man- 
ufacturer finds  in  his  employees,  and  in  his  works,  in  ma- 
chinery, in  improvements,  in  the  perfection  of  his  factories 
and  methods  his  chief  interest  and  reward.  The  profitable 
return  they  make  is  chiefly  acceptable  not  because  this  is 
mere  money,  but  because  it  denotes  success. 

There  is  a  romantic  as  well  as  prosaic  side  to  business. 
The  young  man  who  begins  in  a  financial  firm  and  deals  with 
capital  invested  in  a  hundred  different  ways — in  bonds 
upon  our  railway  systems,  in  money  lent  to  the  merchant 
and  to  the  manufacturer  to  enable  them  to  work  their  won- 
ders— soon  finds  romance  in  business  and  unlimited  room 
for  the  imagination.  He  can  furnish  credit  world-wide  in 
its  range.  His  simple  letter  will  carry  the  traveler  to  the 
farthest  part  of  the  earth.  He  may  even  be  of  service  to 
his  country  in  a  crisis,  as  Richard  Morris,  the  great  mer- 
chant in  Philadelphia,  was  to  General  Washington  in  the 
Revolutionary  cause,  or,  as  in  our  own  day,  our  great  bank- 
ers have  been  in  providing  gold  to  our  Government  at  sev- 
eral crises  to  avert  calamity. 


BUSINESS  27 

The  Vanished  Prejudice  Against  Trade. 

If  the  young  man  does  not  find  romance  in  his  business, 
it  is  not  the  fault  of  the  business,  but  the  fault  of  the  young 
man.  Consider  the  wonders,  the  mysteries  connected  with 
the  recent  developments  in  that  most  spiritual  of  all  agents 
— electricity — with  its  unknown,  and,  perhaps,  even  un- 
guessed-of  powers.  He  must  be  a  dull  and  prosaic  young 
man  who,  being  connected  with  electricity  in  any  of  its 
forms,  is  not  lifted  from  humdrum  business  to  the  region 
of  the  mysterious.  Business  is  not  all  dollars;  these  are 
but  the  shell — the  kernel  lies  within  and  is  to  be  enjoyed 
later,  as  the  higher  faculties  of  the  business  man,  so  con- 
stantly called  into  play,  develop  and  mature.  There  was  in 
the  reign  of  militarism  and  barbarous  force  much  con- 
tempt for  the  man  who  engaged  in  trade.  How  complete- 
ly has  all  this  changed!  But,  indeed,  the  feeling  was  of 
recent  origin,  for  if  we  look  further  back  we  find  the  oldest 
families  in  the  world  proud  of  nothing  but  the  part  they 
played  in  business.  The  woolsack  and  the  galley  still  flour- 
ish in  their  coat-of-arms.  One  of  the  most — perhaps  the 
most — influential  statesmen  in  England  in  1896  was  the 
Duke  of  Devonshire — because  he  had  the  confidence  of  both 
parties.  He  was  the  president  of  the  Barrow  Steel  Com- 
pany. The  members  of  the  Conservative  cabinet  were  found 
to  hold  sixty-four  directorships  in  various  trading,  manu- 
facturing and  mining  companies.  In  Britain  today  not  how 
to  keep  out  of  trade,  but  how  to  get  into  it,  is  the  question. 
The  late  President  of  the  French  Republic,  a  man  with  a 
marvelous  career,  had  been  a  business  man  all  his  days.  The 
old  feeling  of  aversion  has  entirely  gone. 

You  remember  that  the  late  Emperor  of  Germany  wished 
to  make  his  friend,  the  steel  manufacturer,  Krupp,  a  Prince 
of  the  empire,  but  that  business  man  was  too  proud  of  his 
works,  and  the  son  of  his  father,  and  begged  the  Emperor 
to  excuse  him  from  degrading  the  rank  he  held  as  King  of 
Steel. 


2t  BUSINESS 

The  old  prejudice  against  trade  has  gone  even  from  the 
strongholds  in  Europe.  This  change  has  come  because  trade 
itself  has  changed.  In  old  days  every  branch  of  business 
was  conducted  upon  the  smallest  retail  scale,  and  small 
dealings  in  small  affairs  breed  small  men;  besides,  every 
man  had  to  be  occupied  with  the  details,  and,  indeed,  each 
man  manufactured  or  traded  for  himself.  The  higher 
qualities  of  organization  and  of  enterprise,  of  broad  views 
and  of  executive  ability,  were  not  brought  into  play.  In 
our  day,  business  in  all  branches  is  conducted  upon  so  gi- 
gantic a  scale  that  partners  of  a  huge  concern  are  rulers 
over  a  domain.  The  large  employer  of  labor  sometimes  has 
more  men  in  his  industrial  army  than  the  petty  German 
kings  had  under  their  banners. 

It  was  said  of  old  that  two  of  a  trade  never  agree ;  today 
the  warmest  friendships  are  formed  in  every  department 
of  human  effort  among  those  in  the  same  business;  each 
visits  the  other's  counting-house,  factory,  warehouse ;  they 
are  shown  the  different  methods;  all  the  improvements; 
new  inventions,  and  freely  adapt  them  to  their  own  bus- 
iness. 

Affairs  are  now  too  great  to  breed  petty  jealousies,  and 
there  is  now  allied  with  the  desire  for  gain  the  desire  for 
progress,  invention,  improved  methods,  scientic  develop- 
ment, and  pride  of  success  in  these  important  matters;  so 
that  the  dividend  which  the  business  man  seeks  and  receives 
today,  is  not  alone  in  dollars.  He  receives  with  the  dollar 
something  better,  a  dividend  in  the  shape  of  satisfaction  in 
being  instrumental  in  carrying  forward  to  higher  stages  of 
development  the  business  which  he  makes  his  life-work. 

Rewards  of  a  Business  Career. 

I  can  confidently  recommend  to  you  the  business  career 
as  one  in  which  there  is  abundant  room  for  the  exercise 


BUSINESS  29 

of  man's  highest  power,  and  of  every  good  quahty  in  human 
nature.  I  believe  the  career  of  the  great  merchant,  or 
banker,  or  captain  of  industry,  to  be  favorable  to  the  de- 
velopment of  the  powers  of  the  mind,  and  to  the  ripening 
of  the  judgment  upon  a  wide  range  of  general  subjects; 
to  freedom  from  prejudice,  and  the  keeping  of  an  open  mind. 
And  I  do  know  that  permanent  success  is  not  obtainable 
except  by  fair  and  honorable  dealing,  by  irreproachable 
habits  and  correct  living,  by  the  display  of  good  sense  and 
rare  judgment  in  all  the  relations  of  human  life,  for  credit 
and  confidence  fly  from  the  business  man,  foolish  in  word 
and  deed,  or  irregular  in  habits,  or  even  suspected  of  sharp 
practice.  There  may  be  room  for  a  foolish  man  in  every 
profession — foolish  as  a  child  beyond  the  range  of  his  spe- 
cialty, and  yet  successful  in  that — but  no  man  ever  saw 
a  foolish  business  man  successful.  If  without  sound,  all- 
round  judgment,  he  must  fail. 

The  business  career  is  thus  a  stern  school  of  all  the  vir- 
tues, and  there  is  one  supreme  reward  which  it  often  yields 
which  no  other  career  can  promise;  I  point  to  noble  bene- 
factions which  it  renders  possible.  It  is  to  business  men 
following  business  careers  that  we  chiefly  owe  our  universi- 
ties, colleges,  libraries,  and  educational  institutions,  as  wit- 
ness Girard,  Lehigh,  Qiicago,  Harvard,  Yale,  Cornell  and 
many  others. 

What  monument  can  a  man  leave  behind  him  productive 
of  so  much  good  and  so  certain  to  hand  his  name  down  to 
succeeding  generations,  hallowed  with  the  blessings  of 
thousands  in  each  decade  who  have  within  its  walls  received 
that  most  precious  possession,  a  sound  and  liberal  educa- 
tion? These  are  the  works  of  men  who  recognized  that 
surplus  wealth  was  a  sacred  trust,  to  be  administered  dur- 
ing the  life  of  its  possessor  for  the  highest  good  of  his 
fellows. 


30  BUSINESS 

If,  then,  some  business  man  may  fall  subject  to  the  re- 
proach of  grasping,  we  can  justly  claim  for  them  as  a  class 
what  honest  Thomas  Cromwell  claimed  for  the  great  cardi- 
nal, and  say:  "If  they  have  a  greed  of  getting,  yet  in  be- 
stowing they  are  most  princely,  as  witness  these  seats  of 
learning." 


UNIVERS'TY  C 


This  boo 


/VT 
■JOS  ANGELES 


I  PAMPHLET  BINDER 

SyrocosB,  N.   Y. 
Stockton,  Colif. 


nr^JVl.         C21B 


3  1158  00477  6620 


ills 

1 

UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    00 


108  533  9 


